North of the Desolate Sea

by Liv Balstad

The wife of the Governor of Spitzbergen writes of her daily life in Spitzbergen a Norwegian mining town located 12 degrees from the north pole.

223 pages

First published January 1, 1955

Reviews

[Trey Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible real-life account of life in the Arctic.

Nord For Det Øde Hav – or North Of The Desolate Sea, if you prefer the translation is the story of Liv Balstad’s nine year long adventure in Longyearbyen, Svalbard where she lived and worked as a radio hostess, wife, mother and in support of her husband, the governor of the archipelago at the time.

She had a huge variety of roles at his side, probably many more than I can remember and mention here, but she helped govern the community, hosted visitors almost continously – both officials, but also friends, family and others – and her time spent up there appears to have been a constant adventure.

Longyearbyen is a former coal mining company town, founded on John Munroe Longyear’s mining site after the Norwegians bought it off him and built up the town in and around the valley. And yes, they named it after him. It has since then grown to become an international little society full of research, exploration, and education. It has slowly grown out of being a mining-based company town, and this year the last Norwegian coal mine was officially closed.

I want to emphasis again that this is a real-life account, these are her memoirs, and the reason I wanted to read this is because I’m living up here now. I lived here for a couple of years between 2019-2022, and I’m back now. There’s something very fascinating about reading the history of a place you know and live in. Sure, a lot has changed since Liv lived here in the ’40s and ’50s, but still, so much of it is so recognizable and still here for me to experience. I can walk the roads she walked, take in the views she describes and breathe the air she breathed (you know what I mean).

Her account is incredibly detailed. The book is long, describing everything from daily life, dinner parties, official responsibility, terrible disasters that claimed countless lives, but also the good, fun, festive things that happened in between. Sure, it’s a bit of a heavy read consider it’s age (published in 1956), but it’s still surprisingly good.

I’m not sure there’s an English translation (I read the original Norwegian), but if there isn’t that’s a shame. Because the adventures detailed in this tome, in one of the most remote places in the world, at the edge of the world at 78 degrees north are incredible. Highly recommended if you like memoirs and real-life accounts of historic people – but perhaps particularly if you’re only dipping your toes into the genre. This is a great place to start.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liv Balstad was the wife of the Norwegian politician who served as Sysselmannen (governor) of the islands of Svalbard from 1945 to 1956. This book is her first-hand journal and observations of life at the time in this very remote region. Considering that while now scientists and officials on Svalbard have the benefit of the Internet, decent air travel, and other technological advances, one must consider how life must have been in Balstad's time in such an isolated place—especially for a politician's wife more used to parties and state dinners in Oslo than roughing it in the frozen north. She is however fair in her views of Svalbard and does see a good deal of beauty in this icey place, but she doesn't really have the heart of an Arctic explorer, either. Nor is she always the most interesting and engrossing of writers, but her narrative in most places is quite able to sell itself simply on the rare nature of the topic it covers. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Arctic exploration and sociology—for those interested in the specifics of Svalbard, it is however a must.

[Niels Borup · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "must read" for every Svalbard enthusiast.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the worlds greatest writing but still interesting